Debt
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Draco did his family proud and killed Albus, but Hannah doesn't understand how he can be proud and be ashamed at the same time.


**Debt**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

**AN:** What if Draco Malfoy had been the one to kill Albus Dumbledore at the end of HBP? (Note: Your story does not need to focus on Draco Malfoy, though it can if you wish. E.g. Aunt Bellatrix's reaction to her nephew's bravery.)

* * *

**return**

Hannah Abbott sat silently at the end of the Hufflepuff table. It was hard for her to describe exactly how she felt right now, there was so much spinning round and round inside her mind that it was hard to pick out a single thought. She could definitely take a guess though.

Relief. Relief that she'd been allowed to return to Hogwarts. For a long while she'd thought that perhaps they might just keep her, locked away in a house that she had once called home by a person that had once been family.

Anxiety. That maybe her friends wouldn't treat her the same. Although, no one knew exactly what had happened since they day she left almost one year ago. Every so often Susan or Ernie - and on the odd occasion Zach - would shoot her a look. But then, almost soon as they'd set eyes on her drawn figure, they'd look away quickly before they thought she'd noticed.

Excitement. Excited to show that she wasn't broken; she could still fight.

Anger. Hannah couldn't even begin to explain how angry she was about all that had happened to her and her brother.

On top of all that she had one more concern, one more thing that hurt her so deeply that she could hardly believe it was true.

Draco Malfoy had killed Dumbledore.

Draco Malfoy, the boy who she'd helped over and over with Transfiguration after McGonagall forced him to take extra tutoring in their second year. The boy she'd spent the odd Sunday afternoon with complaining about their parents and doing whatever essay should have been due in the previous Friday.

Hannah had never been good at deadlines and Draco, Draco just liked to act like it didn't matter what he did. That his name would save him when it came to exams. Luckily she'd managed to convince him otherwise before the OWLs really kickstarted to deflate his head a little. They'd ended up with some crazy but mutual friendship that they'd never expected to have.

A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin? Friends?

Hannah didn't like to point it out but the two houses shared a common trait, both were undeniably loyal to their friends, or allies in the snake's case. For example, she'd worked hard to help Draco get a good grade in his Transfiguration OWL, whilst he'd offered to steal the answers for her History of Magic OWL. She'd turned him down, of course, but either way it proved her point; the two houses shared a common trait. People probably wouldn't like her to point it out.

She found herself looking over at the blonde haired boy who had also chosen to sit at the end of his respective table, because he too looked like he had something on his mind. If the rumours were true then it would make sense, but something made Hannah want to hear it from him.

Suddenly he looked up and their eyes locked across the Great Hall. Neither of them showed any emotion for a split second, but then suddenly a pinkness crawled into Draco's cheeks and he quickly averted his gaze. Hannah frowned; that was so unusual, too unusual for him because all things considering, he surely wasn't embarrassed about what he'd done. There was something else, but she couldn't quite figure it out and honestly, she didn't know exactly if she wanted to find out.

* * *

**rejoin**

Eventually she'd had to tell Susan exactly what had happened in the year she was gone and in truth it felt better for Hannah to tell someone. Susan was absolutely livid, Hannah had never seen her best friend ever get that angry until the moment that she informed her of her whereabouts. Whilst Hannah had eventually grown used to the months of house arrest, abuse and torture, Susan had been so angry that she'd blown a hole in the door.

Hannah then had to explain that it was her brother that had been the culprit, how he'd been jealous of her and that he wanted to show nothing more than how much better he was.

After her outburst, Susan listened and supported Hannah whilst she explained that the whole thing had been nothing more than a claim to glory for Daniel Abbott. Hannah explained that she allowed him to think he'd won so that she could get Jack to the safety of Hogwarts, not that Hogwarts was safe any longer.

Hannah had to clue Ernie and Zach in too of course, but she didn't like to go into as much depth for them. Both of them seemed to know the details with an educated guess. As a group they sat together in the Hufflepuff basement and made a pact, that they would forever be loyal to each other, because after all, Hufflepuff's were loyal to their friends.

Naturally the chance arose to fight against the Death Eaters after only a few weeks and one by one the four rejoined Dumbledore's Army.

* * *

**repayment**

It wasn't until November until Hannah finally managed to end up alone with Draco Malfoy like they had all those years ago and one by one emotions flashed across the new dull of his grey eyes.

Guilt. Embarrassment.

Fear.

It was unfortunate that the moment was fuelled by adrenaline because Draco had cornered her after a night of redecorating the castle. To both their surprises, as they stood there in the dark silence of the main library, with their wands aimed at each other, Draco did not call to his fellow perfects as they raced past the open door behind them.

Hannah barely raised her voice above a whisper, "Everyone knows what you did."

Draco's expression did not falter as he deliberated her words and that was exactly what Hannah had been expecting. This after all was Draco Malfoy, the smooth yet arrogant jerk that for the first couple of years had been nothing but unpleasant to her both inside and outside classes, and in her tutoring. He didn't change too much even after that, still arrogant, still a jerk, but he knew they were allies.

"Don't you think I don't know that?" He replied, "At home I'm a hero; in the Common Room I'm a Deity. Inside I'm proud, relieved."

Hannah raised an eyebrow. She remembered the brief moment they met up at the start of sixth year and Draco had just blurted out three words to her when they spoke about You-Know-Who's return: I am scared. She pressed on,"And here, right now?"

Then his expression faltered, and Hannah was immediately on to it, but she let him answer, "I'm embarrassed."

"You're embarrassed?" She repeated. Hannah was lost for a moment. Draco was proud, but he was embarrassed too? It didn't make sense, his words contradicted themselves, but Draco knew that. He lowered his wand even though hers was still raised.

"I'm not your ally, Abbott," he responded firmly, his eyes gone cold in the darkness, "I knew all about your brother and what he was going to do to you, your brother and your parents. I didn't stop it, I could have warned you but I didn't. If I had you would have owed me a favour and I won't ever be in debt to anyone. I'm embarrassed because for some pathetic reason I felt the need to tell you this."

Hannah stared at him, she thought she'd finished being angry at what had happened, but Draco knew and he could have prevented what her brother went through. She threw her wand aside, took two steps forward and punched him hard in the jaw.

"Now no one is in debt," she sneered at him as he cupped his hand to his face, "You arrogant bastard."

* * *

**rewind**

Hannah made it her personal mission to ignore Malfoy for the remainder of the year. After all what he'd done to her was unforgivable. Of course it wasn't always possible, they captained their respective Quidditch teams and the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry soon became a thing of the past. Hufflepuff versus Slytherin became brutal in every aspect and both captains became injured several times.

On the night of the first of May, the Hufflepuff's beat the Slytherins, but not without both captains finishing their match in the Hospital Wing.

Late that night, after their treatment and after curfew, Hannah heard a noise from across the Hospital Wing. Her eyes snapped open to the sound of her voice being called.

"Hannah?"

"Fuck off."

Draco persisted onwards, "Harry Potter's back, the Dark Lords coming here right now."

"How the hell do you know?" Hannah sneered.

"I can feel it," he answered somewhat bashfully.

Hannah sat up, looking straight at him with the nastiest scowl she could manage before whispering, "Do you know what you could have prevented?"

Draco simply nodded in the moonlight that was falling across his bed from the window. Hannah was tempted to ignore him, after all, what he'd done was so heartless, but she found herself inclined to believe what Draco was saying, much to her annoyance.

"Fine I'll believe you if you answer me one thing," she said, "Why?"

Draco seemed startled by her question as if unsure why she had chose not to simply believe him straight away, "I was embarrassed because I knew. I was embarrassed because I didn't have the balls to come and find you and tell you that shit was about to go down. I was embarrassed because for nine months I couldn't do anything about it because I had to protect my own mother by trying to kill Dumbledore. I was embarrassed because we weren't just allies, we were friends and I stupidly made the error of the century. I know that now, every time you look at me you'll think about how I could have saved you and your brother and your parents. You and I can't be friends now that I've betrayed your loyalty and threw away pretty much my only chance if this war goes to Potter."

Hannah stared at him for a long moment, her feelings for the first time in months flooding into her from every angle. She had to take several large breaths in order to regain the control she'd managed to keep whilst he'd been speaking to her.

"I must be crazy," she muttered.

* * *

**redefine**

Hannah gave him a chance and Draco took it.

And in that last defining moment as Harry Potter lay in the arms of the groundskeeper, Draco denied You-Know-Who and did not rejoin the Death Eaters. Before anything else could happen several members of the DA stood in front of him and Neville drew the focus from him.

Draco would forever be in debt to Hannah.

Hannah would never ask for repayment.


End file.
